


Who Does A God Pray To?

by mikrokosmomo



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, TWICE (Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Attempt at Humor, BTS are demigods, Charmspeak (Percy Jackson), Demigods, Eventual Smut, F/F, Fluff, Jeon Jungkook is Whipped, Jeon Jungkook is Zeus's Child, Jeon Jungkook is a Brat, Kim Namjoon | RM is Athena's Child, Kim Taehyung is Apollo's Child, Kim Taehyung | V & Park Jimin are Best Friends, Light Angst, M/M, Min Yoongi | Suga is Hades's Child, Park Jimin (BTS) is Aphrodite's Child, Park Jimin (BTS) is a Tease, Plot Twists, Power Bottom Park Jimin (BTS), Prophecy, Twelve Gods of Olympus (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Violence, Weird Plot Shit, dubious consent (nonsexual charmspeak), greek mythology- freeform, jikook - Freeform, kookmin, or are they?, ot7 are powerful demigods
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:42:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25410112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikrokosmomo/pseuds/mikrokosmomo
Summary: “W-who’s a good boy!”Those were the words Jungkook could get out at the dark foggy alley; peaking at the 10ft tall, jet black, dog-like creature behind Namjoon’s shoulders. He had plans for the Halloween night, watching a movie with his friends in their Star Wars PJs, not fighting a hellhound to death with a carton of almond milk, and a bunny hat on his head. But change is good, right?orIn which three orphans; Jeon Jungkook, Kim Namjoon and Kim Seokjin are childhood friends and one faithful Halloween night, Seokjin gets bound to reveal his friends their real bloodline. With this realization of him being a demigod, Jungkook steps into a world that's full of mystery and many dangerous paths he has to take, yet the most dangerous one has Strawberry pink hair and feline-like eyes.
Relationships: Jeon Jungkook/Park Jimin
Comments: 5
Kudos: 23





	1. A Lactose Intolerant Hellhound

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Just wanted to say the world building in this fic is based on the Percy Jackson and the Olympians fictional universe by Rick Riordan, but I re-explained every notion in detail, so non-readers can easily read this fic without misunderstandings and confusion! This is my first fic ever! I am excited to hear your thoughts about everything and any of your critics! Enjoy! PS. English is not my first language so please go easy on some errors.

“W-who’s a good boy!” 

Those were the words Jungkook could get out at the dark foggy alley, peaking at the 10ft tall, jet black, dog-like creature behind Namjoon’s shoulders. His older friend instinctively moved him behind himself when the puppy formed out of thin air, but Namjoon’s whole body was trembling with fear just like Jungkook’s.

It was the Halloween night, so the college campus was filled with weird plastic decoration and ornaments randomly scattered around, especially A for the effort at the skeleton sitting on the stairs to the Language Department holding a banner that said “How do skeletons say hello? Bone-jour.” With sexy vampires, nurses, bumblebees, and a sexy dolphin or a whale of some sort -Jungkook wasn’t an expert on sea mammals- walking around, the streets were as lively as it could be during the night of the dead. 

On the other side, Jungkook still had a women’s self-defense taekwondo class he had to teach in the gym of his college. Both him and Namjoon had part-times on the campus and had their shifts since all of the other staff had social lives and wanted a day off during Halloween night. They didn’t have anything better than sitting in their shared excuse of an apartment with their friend Seokjin, drinking beer, and watching an old horror movie all in Jungkook’s matching sets of Star Wars pajamas, probably snoozing off on top of each other eventually. Still, Jungkook was feeling a little tingle of guilt in his ribs for not convincing Namjoon to excuse themselves from their works for that night like everyone else did, to spend some time together with Seokjinnie Hyung. He was rarely in the town, always traveling because of his full-blown grown-up work and it was hard to hang out whenever they felt like it, unlike they did in their childhood.

So it brought a smile to Jungkook’s face seeing Namjoon standing at the door of the gym that night, talking to someone on the phone while waving to Jungkook with his hand occupied with some groceries and a blue hat with bunny ears. 

He strolled towards the younger and planted the blue bunny hat on top of his damp hair from showering, hanging up the phone. “That was Jin Hyung, he is already in the apartment and he’s cooking for us tonight!” He was talking with a lisp because of the fake plastic fangs he had on as a costume with two red dots on his neck. Hearing that he and his two best friends were finally getting a rest from their regular schedules made a warm feeling spread across Jungkook’s chest. Tagging along with Namjoon’s hurried steps he flicked the bite marks,

“And what’s with your sudden interest in team Edward?” 

Namjoon smacked the hand on his neck. “Ah-ah! No touchy! I drew those with lipstick and the boss wanted us to dress up in the book store so this was my fair share.” He readjusted the groceries in his hands uncomfortably, so Jungkook took some off of him, “Also fuck yeah team Edward was always superior!”

“And I’m Captain Bunnyballs because…” Jungkook said, furrowing his brows together, realizing they took an early turn instead of the one they usually go for to get to their street.

“Ewwww! That is definitely your fursona name Jungkook why..?” Namjoon shook his head to save himself from the horrible imagery of furry Jungkook, “Not dressing up in a costume in Halloween night means a year of bad luck and gloom dumbass that’s why! I’m out here saving you.”

Jungkook chuckled and sighed the cool air between his lips, eyeing his best friend’s nape. “Well, we would know a couple or two things about bad luck I guess…”

Now you see, Jungkook was used to his life being a chapter of a series of unfortunate events, but wasn’t a car-sized, glowy eyed dog ready to hunt him and his best friend down a little too comic book-ish? 

Jeon Jungkook probably was the unluckiest human being you could think of. He was “abandoned” by his parents when he was a baby and was raised in an orphanage in Seoul. That hell of a place was where he met Kim Namjoon and Kim Seokjin, his best friends and the only faithful happening in his 20 years of life. School had always been a task just too challenging for Jungkook, because everything except P.E. was harder for him somehow; but he was also extremely competitive so he channeled that rage into learning martial arts. He had a perfect combination of learning difficulties and dyslexia with a serious case of ADHD; and he was sure that without Namjoon alongside him, he couldn’t have graduated high school. 

Back to the dark misty dog -since it’s less depressing than talking about high school angst- Jungkook was surprised, no he was absolutely terrified when they took the wrong turn into a dark alley with a dead end, just to be faced with one of these monstrous creatures when they turn around, but he wasn’t losing his mind over this whole situation or anything. Because even though they didn’t talk much about it while brewing coffee in the morning, Namjoon and Jungkook had experienced their fair share of odd, unexplainable things. 

One time when they were in the orphanage’s playground, a woman with literal dragon wings, and might he add a very busted hairline, picked Seokjin up and flew away; Just to return him a day after. The little boy made it to the national news being called the “Eagle boy” being kidnapped by a huge bird while conspiracy theorists on the internet were swearing it was an alien abduction on site. And once they drove past a car crash in the woods in which someone hit a huge scaled creature, but the newspaper the following day said the accident was caused by a pack of deers; they would see things they couldn’t explain to other people and hear weird noises in dark alleys every once in a while, but had chosen to ignore them. 

Oh well, look how the tables have turned.

The dog, who was apparently not very thrilled by the stare down that was going on between it and Namjoon, slowly stepped forward. Its claw-like paws made no sound on the wet ground and eyes were glowing with a shade of green that reminded Jungkook of boiling acid. He grabbed a carton of milk out of the grocery bag he was holding onto for dear life. He didn’t even know how much of a weapon milk could be, but it brought him some comfort. 

Namjoon gently nudged Jungkook with his elbow and proceeded to explain with a voice so calm, it gave Jungkook whiplash in contrast to the panic he is trying to contain at that moment. “Okay Kookie, I don’t think we can take down this thing with our groceries, so at the count of three I want you to run to the left.” 

Jungkook’s feet got heavy at the mention of even an attempt to outrun that thing. “Namjoonie Hyung I love you but I wasn’t that serious when I said I would trust you with my own ripe life when you gave me your points in Mario Kart.” 

“Kook I don’t know if this thing has anything against us or if we were just on its way but running in different directions seemed to be the best choice we have to distract it even for a while so one…” he started his countdown to eternal doom, with a lisp because of his fake fangs. Jungkook looked at the back of Namjoon’s head in disbelief, his smartest friend title had officially changed hands.

“Two…” Namjoon’s voice cracked when the dog took another step towards them and its ears shot up to hear something in the alleyway. The gloomy place was uncomfortably quiet, noises of Seoul being watered down towards the periphery of the city. 

Jungkook couldn’t exactly hear Namjoon screaming “Three” but still, taking a deep breath, he pushed the ground under his feet to start running for his dear life, only to be welcomed by a pink blur in front of his face. 

But it wasn’t just a blur, to correct himself at that, it was actually a head of hair coming to meet Jungkook’s nose in the speed of light, knocking him and his friends off of their already wobbling feet. He felt a thump on his back from falling and another on his lower torso from Namjoon’s tree trunk of a body being pushed on top of him. Faceless people started talking before he was able to open his eyes to see what was going on.

“So, let’s see…” said a voice, managing to sound a mix of bored and annoyed while struggling against something. “Whose idea was it to go downtown clubbing during Halloween, knowing damn well that the hellhounds would tag along?” 

“Don’t tell me you aren’t having fun right now Yoongi Hyung! It’s been a while since we took down one of these since the Chinese one last year.” screamed a lower voice, coming from way above the ground level. Jungkook thought instinctively, that must be the Korean Spiderman.

“But it was definitely Jimin!”

And the third person, probably standing right in front of Jungkook’s face at that moment, groaned with annoyance.  
“You call someone your soulmate for years, trust them with your life, and they bail on you in a heartbeat!” the person huffed and a sound of blades being drawn was heard -it reminded of the exact sound Jungkook would hear in video games before a battle-. 

“We had to come here to find the kids anyways!” proceeded the owner of the voice. Jungkook forced himself to open his eyes, a pair of shiny Chelsea boots were a foot away from him, positioned elegantly but strongly on the wet concrete. “And it’s not like I forced you into coming with me, I swear I didn’t use a grain of charmspeak! Now Tae for the love of Gods, can you shoot this thing down into sleeping mode?” 

As Jungkook’s vision started to clear up, everything became even more confusing and harder to take in. Poor Namjoon was still laying on top of him, limp and unconscious. Right above them, there was a brunette, tan guy around his age, riding a white horse with wings -Jungkook in fact knew that horse was called a Pegasus. He had a mischievous smile plastered on his face but his eyes were focused on the dog thing. The boy had a golden bow and an arrow in his hands; the arrowhead smoking with a white mist around it pointed towards the dark dog monster thing. 

“You know this thing’s gotta charge for a little bit Jiminie! Just amuse it with you unmatched charms for another minute please, or the katanas… I don’t care.” 

Jungkook followed the tip of his arrow and looked at the now surprisingly paralyzed creature. Another guy with jet black hair in a white dress shirt and a glittery purple costume shop cape and a matching wizard hat was holding the huge dog under his palm, pressing it down from its head. Jungkook couldn’t see his full face but he looked quite pale. A glowing pendant at the end of a golden chain hanging from his neck was floating in the air. He looked like he was struggling a little yet the creature was kept under his control; but Jungkook somehow knew when the pale guy removed his hand, it would be a good time to run. 

And finally, Jungkook looked at the person that was standing right in front of him. Until the moment that Jungkook could finally drag his eyes to get a good look of the boy; his aura, like a magnet, made it almost painful to avoid looking at him. Jungkook’s eyes practically craved that sight. 

He was standing tall in his dark skinny jeans and sequin jacket, still he was probably shorter than Jungkook, but he was definitely quite muscular. He had two katana swords in both hands, which he grasped confidently with his fingers full of rings. His hair was a light pink, it reminded Jungkook of strawberry milk. It was quite cute, which was in a complete contrast to his striking face. And his face, Jungkook was glad he kept his face for the last, because he could watch that face for the rest of his life with no problem. This man was objectively the most beautiful person Jungkook had ever seen; with his thick lips, high cheekbones and piercing hooded eyes-

Jungkook’s eyes were torn away from the dreamy view by a scream coming from the feral creature. The hand of the pale wizard guy had left its head by then, returning the dog back into battle mode with teeth showing and a deep rumble coming from his throat.

“Any day now, Taehyung!” gritted out the pale guy still holding his hand up not contacting the creature, but looking relatively drained and slouched over the glowing pendant on his chest. Jungkook’s hands flew to his ears when the golden arrowhead boomed with a sound of a thousand jet planes. It cut through the cool night air whit a whistle and stabbed the creature’s temple. The dog’s green eyes lost its glint with a whimper and its huge body-slammed to the concrete, chest heaving like it’s already fast asleep. For a moment the dog’s sighs were the only sound echoing in the dark alley.

“Uhm- What the fuck?” 

Three shocked pairs of eyes turned to Jungkook’s comically distorted face. They were all looking so terrified that Jungkook thought these guys were a bunch of cult kids and now he was about to be sacrificed to Satan for saying “fuck”. In that case, he hoped Seokjin would feed their house cat, Mittens. Lost in his thought about the faith that was waiting for his house cat, the scary but beautiful hooded eyes of the strawberry milk caught Jungkook’s own, giving him a rather judging look and he thought, maybe he already was in hell after all.

Jungkook followed up with a clarification since it looked like he wasn’t getting a proper answer anytime soon, “Did I hit my head or did that pegasus dude just shoot a huge dog with his golden bow and arrow? Is this a very serious role play game or something?” This time the three men looked at each other and the pale wizard guy whispered “What? Jimin… do your thing and let’s go back home, we still have that rescue thing to proceed with.” 

Strawberry milk turned back to face Jungkook, he raised his eyebrow and stared at his face for a very long second. Jungkook normally hated intense eye contact, it made him anxious and felt like people could see right into him. But this one, he gave it to himself to enjoy the view and hoped not to drool too much.

He took this precious time to take the guy in front of him in with his whole glory. Strawberry milk was probably around Jungkook’s age but his body was oozing with something of a kind that Jungkook was struggling to comprehend fully, something that felt very ancient, like old and expensive wine. His eyes made Jungkook feel small and defenseless. It kind of scared him but intrigued him even more, too. Jungkook opened his mouth ready to say something but he got distracted by Namjoon whimpering on top of him. When he hurriedly returned his gaze to strawberry milk, like a computer glitch, the boy’s face transformed into a compassionate and a tad bit worried expression. 

“Oh god, you must be confused! We heard some noises from here with my friends and came to check out. There was this pack of stray dogs that cornered you and your friend…” he smiled and pointed at Namjoon who seemed to have partially wakened up trying to understand the situation they were in, “but we shooed them away and they are gone now as you see, you are safe.” 

Jungkook was absolutely bewildered by this explanation, was this guy joking? But out of instinct, his eyes trailed back to the place where the huge dog was supposed to lay unconscious, and for a moment, it indeed was completely empty. No sign of a huge black dog put to sleep by a golden arrow sticking out of its temple. However, he squinted and his vision cleared, the dog was back at where he supposed to be, snoring softly.

“Is this where I pretend that I don’t see the huge dark hellhound thing laying there?” 

Strawberry’s lips formed a pout, and his brows drawn together. He still was looking very pretty. “Why aren’t you…”

“Wait Jimin,” interrupted the pegasus guy -Jungkook caught that name-, he was holding a folded piece of paper in his hands, “Is your name Kim Namjoon or Jeon Jungkook by any chance?” he asked with a hopeful tone. Hearing his name created an alarming effect on Namjoon and he straightened his back, “What’s going on Jungkookie?”

Jungkook, in fact, was asking the same exact question to himself right at that moment. How did these complete strangers know their full names? “Yes, I’m Jungkook and this is Namjoon Hyung, but-” 

The pale guy had a questioning look on his face looking at a similar piece of paper with a hand on his hip. He gestured at Jungkook and said, “Wait, are these the ‘kids’ we were supposed to pick up?” 

“Well, they don’t look like kids to me.” Said Jimin, his eyes were still scanning Jungkook and Namjoon. Jungkook would like to think they were mostly on himself though, with his work clothes and blue bunny hat, he must have been looking dashing. 

Jimin drew his katanas and threw them in the air with a swift motion, only for the blades to transform into two silver rings and slip on his fingers. Jungkook wondered if the other eight rings were swords ready to chop some heads off, as well. 

Jimin strolled towards them, and Jungkook felt a good mix of nervous and dizzy pooling at his fingertips. “They really thought they could handle a hellhound with…” Jimin nudged the grocery bags spread on the floor and picked up the carton of milk from Jungkook’s hand, “with vanilla almond milk? Really?”

Jungkook frowned, “Don’t underestimate the power of no lactose options!” 

The pegasus landed on the wet concrete, again, making no sound, and the boy on top of it dismounted. He looked at the paper in his hands once again asked, “Are you related to the Social Services Orphanage in Itaewon?” 

Jungkook and Namjoon looked at each other with apparent worry in their eyes. Complete strangers they just met in a dark alley with combat weapons and a pegasus knew their names and background, sounded like a good beginning to a wild slasher movie.

“I guess if you three were murderous psychos you would have easily killed us by now; unless this is about to turn into torture porn real soon, of course,” Namjoon said with his lisp, pushing himself off of Jungkook and the ground, dusting his pants off. He reached for Jungkook’s hand and pulled him up, with a confused expression but a reassuring look in his eyes. His brain was probably on fight or flight mode. “Yeah, we used to live there but we graduated from high school and cut contact after that.” 

Jimin quirked an eyebrow and smirked at his friends, “I hate to say this, you know I do, but I told you!” he chimed. “I knew there was a catch about coming here tonight…”

Jungkook had enough, his head was spinning. “Care to explain it to us too? What the hell was that thing? Who are you people? Why is that guy wearing a sparkly wizard costume and doing creepy dark magic?”

“Hey, it’s Halloween! It’s bad luck not to dress up!” whined the pale wizard guy. Namjoon coughed and sneaked a little “Told you” in-between.

A moment of silence cut through the alley. The three guys shared a quick look and came to some sort of an agreement. The pale wizard let out a long sigh and mumbled “Here we go…” under his breath. “Sorry to question you like this without even introducing ourselves, my name is-“

“Min Yoongi!”

The wizard guy, apparently Min Yoongi, shut his eyes and threw his head back in annoyance. He looked like he couldn’t find the energy to face the owner of that exclamation. “Oh gods, this is about to become a very long night.”

Jungkook caught a glimpse of the person’s handsome face before his mind registered the familiar, high pitched voice. Namjoon was the one bringing his thoughts into words.

“Jin Hyung?” 

Seokjin was standing at the exit of the dead-end, hands on his hips looking as shocked as the other five guys. “This feels awfully similar to a family reunion after a divorce.” 

Namjoon was looking at Seokjin, and then Jungkook, with his brows raised and his lips forming an “o”. “What are you doing here? How do you know these people? Jungkook I swear to god I get knocked out and you summon some type angel S.W.A.T team..”

Seokjin walked towards them sliding his hand across his face, looking exhausted. He must be exhausted, Jungkook thought, he flew right back just to spend the night with them from his work. However, their plans for the night took a very unexpected turn, towards hellhounds and crazy role player dudes that prefer katanas over almond milk.

“Joonie, Kook I missed you guys.” He gave the two a brief hug but it still made Jungkook feel so much better compared to a minute ago. To him, these two guys were the only home he got to have. “and Joonie, you look great as Edward Cullen.”

“I guess, despite my efforts to shield you, it was about time that the camp found out about you two. But let me put that aside just for a minute please…” He turned on his heels to face the three boys who, Jungkook just realized, were standing wide-eyed frozen in their places. Even the pegasus was looking absolutely terrified.

“Yoongi, Taehyung, Jimin,” His eyes traveled upon the three faces, “care to explain why are you here instead of sleeping in the Camp?” his voice was very leveled but Jungkook felt as if it was the silence before the storm.

The pegasus guy, Taehyung, coughed the awkwardness away, failing, “Hoseok Hyung got a vision and gave us names to rescue. Since it wasn’t a long way from the camp exit, we thought we would get them as quickly as possible.” He shrugged.

Jimin pursed his lips, “Well good thing we were here on time or else that bunny hat guy over there was ready to take a hellhound down with groceries.” Jungkook was holding himself from sticking his tongue out, he damn well could beat that thing with his bags if given the chance.

“Hm… That sounds way too reasonable of an idea to come out of your one collective brain cell but-“ Seokjin diverted his gaze from them to look at a still very puzzled Jungkook and Namjoon, “I’ll let it pass for now because Joon looks like he’s about to pass out. I should probably take you all back to the camp, as the sorry excuse of a head counselor I am.”

“Seokjin, I think they deserve a quick explanation before we get going, not everyone can take seeing a pegasus that well…” said the pale wizard guy, Yoongi, checking Namjoon with a concerned face.

Seokjin nodded rubbing his chin, “Yeah you may be right. Ugh, it’s been a while since I explained about the birds and the bees…” he let out a breath and pursed his lips like he was trying to collect his thought together, “Well, Joonie you study history, you guys must know about Ancient Greek and their gods like Zeus and Aphrodite…” 

Namjoon nodded looking at Jungkook “Yeah the twelve gods of Olympus, Greek people used to worship them; then Romans also worshipped them I think, but in different names like Jupiter…” Jungkook raised his brows in approval. He was sure Namjoon could talk about anything, sounding as intelligent as one can be.

Seokjin beamed and clapped his hands, “Exactly!” He turned to the other guys and rolled his eyes, “See I don’t just befriend dumbasses like you… Well, you are right Joonie, then please don't freak out too much but…” he huffed and repositioned his hands on his hips like he was struggling to let the words out.

“The Gods of Olympus, and even more than you could imagine, are actually real. They kept ruling the world and the forces of nature since the beginning of time.” Jungkook tilted his head to make sure he was hearing his friend’s words clearly. Just like his, he saw Namjoon’s mouth hanging open. “As you may know from some myths and stories, they sometimes take human form to do… humanly things.” Seokjin instinctively gave Jimin a side-eye.

Jimin, like he understood it was his cue, rephrased. “They come down here from Olympus to sleep with people, and after nine months” he made a “ding” sound like a microwave, “us, demigods are born. Like the name says, heroes with supernatural powers who are half god and half-human. Like you guys.”

Jungkook visibly grimaced at the last phrase. Him? A demigod? With powers? Jungkook couldn’t even make grilled cheese without burning the toast.

“Yeah, alright… It was nice meeting you guys but I think I forgot to feed Mittens today, we should definitely get brunch together sometime though, yeah? Let’s get going Namjoon Hyung…” he pulled his friend’s sleeve, smiling nervously. He already was aware that these people were crazy, but Seokjin Hyung too? Jungkook was hoping this was a huge prank or a fever dream.

“Oh come on Kookie, we both know you and Joon keep seeing super weird things all the time that other people can’t…” Seokjin said while raising his brows, “I don’t think none of us believed that eagle abduction story when we were in the orphanage, it was a Furia, a winged underworld monster thing. I was saved by the Camp back then.”

He was right, none of them talked about the eagle thing but you had to be blind and had to have youth dementia to think that ugly thing was a bird. Jungkook interrupted his friend, “And by the camp, you mean what? Like a summer camp for kids?”

Seokjin tilted his head, “Yeah, at least it started that way. The camp is an establishment that rescues demigod children from the outer world in which they are in danger of monsters and then trains them into heroes. There was only one camp in New York back in the time called Camp Half-Blood, but there are millions of demigods all over the world. So more and more started to pop up in every continent. I am the head counselor of Camp Imbros, in which we have campers of all ages, and new ones come in every day thanks to our information network.”

“Usually demigods are easily spotted by monsters and by that Camp Imbros finds them and rescues them via teams. But you two were an exception, I obviously suspected you were special too but I wasn’t sure since you both show no signs of powers, so I thought you were normal but just could see behind the mist…”

“The what, now?” said Namjoon, he looked like processing all this information made him nauseous, but he had an excited glimmer in his eyes too; Namjoon had a special interest in learning.

“The mist,” the wizard guy, Yoongi repeated the words of Seokjin, “it is kind of like a curtain of magic that separates our world from the eyes of the ordinary. It is also the basic ingredient of spells and powers of many gods and demigods. If you were regular people, that bunny hat over there would have been fooled by Jimin’s pack of dogs story thanks to the mist and we would be finished here.”

Seokjin interrupted his friend, “Wait, pause! Did I hear that correct? Jimin’s charmspeak wasn’t enough to fool someone? Not just someone, Jungkook?” He turned to face Jungkook with an apologetic expression, “No offense Kookie but you aren’t the sharpest tool in the shed.”

Jimin popped his tongue, “That ridiculous thing on his head must have shielded his brain from the charms…” he mumbled, but was looking quite annoyed by the situation. Jungkook huffed and fixed the bunny hat on his head, he was starting to grow a new appreciation for it.

Seokjin’s eyes went in between the two, “Interesting…” he slightly lifted his hand and twisted his fingers, “My powers are very dependent on manipulating the mist too, if it’ll convince you,” the grocery bag yanked itself from Jungkook’s hand and its handles got tied together mid-air making Namjoon suck a breath in. “See? I’m the son of Hekate, the goddess of magic and witchcraft.”

He pointed at the pegasus guy, “That’s Taehyung back there,” the guy smiled and waved, “He is the son of Apollo, and is one of our best archers. He’s also very good with animals and magical creatures, that’s his pegasus, Honey.” If Jungkook saw Taehyung in his college campus, he would have thought that he was an athlete with a sports major like himself because he had the physique and that weird intimidating aura all over. But again, he had a shirt with a Van Gogh pun on it, so Jungkook decided not to be so sure yet. Seokjin shrugged, “Tae is pretty cool if you ask me but he gets himself in trouble way too frequently…”

The wizard guy chuckled, “Jimin is rubbing off on him.”

“This here is my dearest co-counselor Min Yoongi,” Seokjin rested his elbow on the notably shorter guy’s shoulder, “He is the son of Hades so he can do dark shadowy stuff like chatting with the dead and looking like an angsty 13 years old everywhere we go. He practices dark magic so he’s pretty good at that too. He is annoying but kind of powerful and cute as an armrest so I let him tag along.”

Yoongi shrugged Seokjin’s hand off and acted like he didn’t hear the last sentence. “Not as good as you are at magic, but thank you. I was about to pop a couple of bones out of the ground, trying to control that hellhound.” 

“Of course, not as good as me!” said Seokjin in a cartoonish manner, and flicked his wrist. The sleeping dog at the beginning of the alleyway Jungkook completely forgot about melted into the fog and vanished. “Also don’t even try and soften me up with compliments; I leave for a single day to have a good time and you let the kids go out at night, fighting with hellhounds and scaring my friends. We will talk about this back at the camp.”

However, Yoongi didn’t want to wait till the camp, “Oh would you prefer me sending Jimin to town all by himself and his powers and the next day hear all the clubs and bars in Seoul going bankrupt due to giving up all their belongings for free to a mysterious man from the morning news?”

Jimin dramatically turned around and leaned on the wall of the alleyway, “I have no friends to trust, to lean on; this cold, hard wall is the only support I have in life.”

Seokjin let out a shaky breath and shut his eyes, he looked like he aged fifty years in the past ten minutes. Pinching his nose bridge, he continued his dreaded introduction, “And finally, the man, the legend, Park Jimin. He is a son of Aphrodite; an extremely dangerous species if you ask me, especially if you are talking about Jimin,” Jimin dusted off the imaginary particles on his sequin jacket with a devilish smirk and again, caught Jungkook’s gaze on him, his smirk spreading. Jungkook was starting to get that thing about him being dangerous.

“He is a camper in Camp Imbros since he was a toddler, so he is very well trained with all his powers. He is the best charmspeaker I’ve encountered, which means he can spell people into his way just by talking.” Seokjin made jazz hands with his fingers to accentuate what he means.

Jimin pouted, “That’s not true, people just see me and give me what I want. There is no magic involved, the only magic is my attractiveness,” explained Jimin, batting his eyelashes. “…and I also do combat. Don’t objectify me!”

Seokjin gave him a side-eye, “Yeah, sure Houdini… But he’s kind of right, unlike the vast majority of the children of Aphrodite, Jimin is a master of many weapons, blades in particular.” Jimin put his hands up to show his fingers full of silver rings with different kinds of emblems and gems on them. “He weirdly enjoys carrying all of them with him so I enchanted them into jewelry for his 18th birthday.”

Seokjin turned around to face Jungkook and Namjoon, giving his friends a small, apologetic smile. Without breaking eye contact he said, “And these two here, are my confused out of their minds best friends, currently thinking that I went absolutely crazy.” All Jungkook could do was smiling and nodding slowly.

“Well, you guys already say I’m crazy because I prefer vanilla ice cream over chocolate so I think I have nothing to lose,” Seokjin turned around pulling a white pouch out of his pocket. He took six coffee bean looking things and handed everyone a piece, “Okay now, it’s time to return back to the camp. The rest we can talk about there.”

Taehyung pushed his hand gently making a disgusted face, “Sorry but those things taste like fucking death and give me the jitters,” he hopped on the back of his pegasus. “I’ll take Honey Express, see you back at the camp!” and like that Taehyung was gone.

Seokjin rolled his eyes at him but he had a fond smile on, “Okay guys all we gotta do is eat the bean and hold each other’s hands. When we step forward, we should be in the camp.”

Jungkook mumbled, more to himself, “Okay, I can do that…” he put the bean in his mouth and chewed. Taehyungs description was indeed very accurate with the taste profile. The thing itself was tiny but the disgusting taste of a rotten egg that you left under your car seat for weeks punched you right at the throat. “What the fuck is this?”

Yoongi gagged, “Well, this still tastes like my grandmas love and she hated children.” 

Seokjin’s eyes were wide open with the taste too, “It will do the job though,” he said hoarsely, “are you guys ready? Let’s hold hands happy campers!” 

A hand accessorized with cold silver linked his fingers with Jungkook’s and a wave of heat and electric shock traveled its way to his arm. He looked at his right and Jimin’s feline-like eyes caught his gaze, Jungkook didn’t have that rich of a vocabulary to describe this man’s eye color but all he could think of was a kaleidoscope. Seokjin’s words about Jimin were ringing in his ears; dangerous.

Namjoon grabbed Jungkook’s other hand and gave it a squeeze. He was wearing half an assuring smile, but with his plastic fangs now, like he always did before Jungkook’s competitions and tournaments, “Okay then, buckle up Captain BunnyBalls!”

“Oh, gods is that your fursona name?” Yoongi had a bewildered look on his face, “Is that his fursona name? Please say no, I can’t believe we are taking a furry that calls himself Captain Bunnyballs to the camp-“

“Here we go!” Seokjin screamed, Jungkook took his step with everyone else and fell flat into the darkness.


	2. Golden Boy and Hot Choco

The first thing that shook Jungkook out of the infinite darkness they stepped in was his body trembling like a candle flame in the wind. He couldn’t feel his limbs, or anything below his neck, to be fair. All he could sense was a lingering smell of sulfur and erratic goosebumps of static electricity dancing all around him. Lights were flashing behind his closed eyelids, burning images of scenes and people that he has no memory of on his mind. Even without any sensation of his body, Jungkook started to feel an impending pain and captivation pooling in his stomach; he was thankful for not having a human form at that moment because it felt like the misery he had to endure couldn’t be contained in such a weak shell.

Jungkook felt a caress so faint on his cheek that he thought he imagined it for a moment. Then the wind gently brushed over his ear and the melodies formed the voice of a young woman. 

“I’m sorry for all this agony you have to endure, my light,” she whispered. It sounded so close that it made Jungkook jump in his place, it was like she was talking inside his head. “…but it is not something you have to conquer for the first time.”

It got very hot, all of a sudden followed by all of the electricity moving down Jungkook’s non-existent limbs to his feet. His ears boomed with a sound that ringed all over his body and made his back arch. It was such an unbearable pain that Jungkook let out a cry, but his own voice was sounding so distant to him. 

The woman’s voice traveled to his other ear, the wind that carries it messing Jungkook’s hair on its way. She hummed in approval, “My light, you don’ have to prove yourself to me. I am fully aware of your capabilities.” Cool arms of air embraced Jungkook into a cocoon, making the turbulence all over him suddenly stop. “…however, when you need it the most please don’t forget to remember.” 

Jungkook wanted to ask what was he supposed to remember? But before he could process the arms pulling themselves off of him, Jungkook was free falling. His hands were grabbing open air. He wanted to scream but his breath was frozen like a block of ice sitting in his throat.

“Jungkook, wake up.”

And with that, Jungkook rose to see a pair of kaleidoscopes staring back at him with a glint of worry in them. He was once again back to his material body, but still, instinctively he checked if all of his limbs were still intact. Indeed, he was completely fine except a little bit of back pain probably caused by the fall back in the alley. And his right hand was enveloped between two smaller ones.

They were in a courtyard of what it looked like a traditional Korean village house. Jungkook wondered for how long he had been unconscious. It was still very dark out and the stars were looking much brighter than the times when Jungkook would look up from their apartment in the city. There were distant voices coming from inside the house and all around the building. 

“Wow, Jimin really made a man rise from death with that voice! You should add that to your LinkedIn…” Jungkook followed the unfamiliar voice to its source behind Jimin. There standing, was another guy with a shirt that says “Kiss the Prophet! (he won’t tell you the next lottery results!)” and with his hands on his hips, smiling to Jungkook. 

“Hi! You must be Jungkook, welcome to our camp!” his smile spread even more on his face making his lips formed a heart. It was impossible for Jungkook not to smile back at him. 

“Oh my God! Seokjin Hyung you were right, he really is a prophet!” Namjoon exclaimed popping his head out of the house and hurriedly running to where Jungkook is still sitting. “He knows Jungkook’s name already!”

Seokjin was strolling behind him with a pack of gummy worms in his hands, “Of course he knows his name you dumbass, you spent the past ten minutes screaming ‘Jeon Jungkook wake up!’” the interaction made the smiley guy chuckle.

Namjoon dropped on the ground next to where Jimin was sitting and gave him a tight hug. “You scared me big time, kiddo, you weren’t breathing at all for a moment.” Jungkook hugged him back, it felt like being woken up from a terrible nightmare and realizing that you are still in the safety of your bed.

Jungkook rubbed his nape and said, “And you decided the thing that would save me would be gummy worms?” He was trying to distract himself from Jimin who was still holding his hand but the boy’s eyes were fixated on an empty spot on the ground. 

Seokjin’s eyes lingered on their hands for a moment too short, “What- Oh, these are for the medical staff,” he threw his hands around the smiley guy. “Have you met our Prophet, Jung Hoseok?”

“Hi you can call me Hobi or Hope, newbie!” said Hoseok, taking the gummy worms and beaming at Seokjin. “I am a son of Apollo so I have the gift of prophecy and visions. I also take care of the medical care unit of Camp Imbros with other Apollo kids, but I’m still training my remedial powers.” He munched on some candy and tapped his own shoulders, “I have big boy responsibilities.” 

Jungkook chuckled, “You surely do, it’s nice meeting you Hoseok Hyung! I would like to say I’m Jeon Jungkook, the son of some big god too, but oh well! We still have no idea…” With the help of Jimin’s hand, he stood up. However, his feet were still wobbly so for a moment he lost his balance. 

“Easy there…” Hoseok quickly held him by his arm but the prophet’s body froze into place the moment he touched Jungkook’s still cool skin. His hand was stuck on the younger’s arm like it’s superglued on. When Jungkook turned to check if anything was wrong with the guy, his eyes met with two milky white orbs. A cloud of white smoke was dripping lazily down his cheeks like tears. With a monotone, deep voice he spoke,

“To step down along the souls of the unjust  
The shining must defeat the king of the past  
Bring the lights home, where they belong  
Take down the throne with yesterday’s song  
when the secret heart is illuminated at dawn  
The light shall fall upon the owl and the swan  
To shield oneself from the wrath of lust  
His hands must pray and willingly combust.”

When he was finished, the smoke was reabsorbed into him like it was vacuumed in. Hoseok removed his hands off of Jungkook like he was electrocuted. Jungkook was covered in goosebumps and was absolutely terrified by the prophet’s sudden words, he looked at the other faces in the courtyard, all reflecting Jungkook’s expression.

Hoseok was left speechless for a moment. Namjoon made Jungkook lean on himself without making eye contact with Hoseok, he looked just as shaken as the younger. Jimin was doing the same for Hoseok. Seokjin came to rub Hoseok’s back who looked like he was nauseous. 

“Did my spell wear out already Hobi? What was that all of a sudden?” all Hoseok could do was to shake his head meaning no. Seokjin looked at Jungkook with an apologetic smile.

“Hobi has a very dominant prophecy power, so his sight keeps flaring up whenever he comes in contact with new people for the first time. They are mostly harmless everyday stuff like ‘Thou must not leave the door to the snack cupboard open.’. I put spells on him that blocks most of it since he spoiled the ending of Game of Thrones last year.”

Hoseok looked like he was better, he pushed the hair that fell on his face and smiled to Jungkook and Namjoon, looking a little worn out. “I’m so sorry to freak you guys out like that, the fortune cookie advice don’t really happen any more thanks to Jin’s spell; but Hyung I think,” said Hoseok rubbing his temples, “I think this was the oracle of Epirus, Dione coming to visit us with some big news.”

Jimin, for the first time since Jungkook woke up, let out a shocked gasp. “Wait, do you mean...”

All eyes except Namjoon’s were locked on Jungkook’s still very confused face. Hoseok’s brows were drawn together with a mix of confusion and a slight pity to the younger. “Yes, Jimin, those lines I just said were the next grand prophecy, and probably Jeon Jungkook here is the star of the show.”

Jungkook didn’t really know how to respond to such news. He wasn’t sure if he understood what was going on at that moment fully, eighter. All Jungkook knew was how absolutely exhausted he was feeling. All of these were definitely exciting but it made him feel like that one time when he ate 134 chicken nuggets at one sitting during the first week of college just because he could, as an independent functioning adult. Everything was thrown at him all at the same time. 

He carefully lifted his weight off of Namjoon’s arms when he felt like he was comfortably standing on his own. Jimin eyed him and grimaced, Jungkook must not be looking very ‘knight in a shining armor-esque at the time. “I think we should take this conversation inside; we wouldn’t want our future mighty hero to fall down and face his eternal doom for the third time tonight now, do we?”

And with that, they entered the dynasty style house from the courtyard. Seokjin left to check the rest of the camp for anyone in need since all five of the big brothers were out. After spending the whole night out in the cold, specifically laying on the ground, Jungkook was happy to meet the smell of cinnamon and the warm air hugging his body. The room, like the outdoors, was designed with traditional furniture and art, another sliding door was placed mirroring the one that they entered in. There was a long, shallow table on the floor surrounded by pillows to sit on, and located on the other side of the room was the kitchen, where Yoongi was standing over the stove cooking something.

Hoseok’s excited voice ringed behind Jungkook, “Yoongi Hyung! I think I just had the next grand prophecy out there!” all of them took their shoes off and sat down around the table. Jimin was sat right in front of Jungkook, removing his sequin jacket that wasn’t as shimmery as it was at the beginning of the night.

“Those are great news Hobi,” responded Yoongi, lifting his head from what he was doing, to scan the kitchen shelves. “I hope it won’t turn out to be a verse from Drake’s next album like the last time you said it was the grand prophecy…” 

Hoseok shook his head and rolled his eyes, “This time the oracle of Epirus really possessed me with smoke and all, when I touched poor Jungkook though,” he gave apologetic puppy eyes to Jungkook, “I’m pretty sure this one is legit, it was creepy.”

Yoongi was stretching his arm, reaching for the mugs at the top shelf, “Oh, then please note it down while you still have it all in mind, I don’t want to use rhyme bots to figure it out again.” Yoongi did a little jump to be able to get the mugs down, failing, he turned around to look at his friends, “And did you say it was because you touched Jungkook?” he said with a shocked expression, “This kid has been in the camp for half an hour and already got a major mission. Living the dream!”

Jungkook realized Yoongi had a scar on one of his eyes that he hadn’t noticed in the dark alley. “What exactly do you mean by a mission?” he asked the younger.

Right across the table, Jimin answered, “Exactly what you would get when someone says mission.” He leaned on his hand over the table, Jungkook was feeling unnecessarily intimidated. “A group of demigods, generally three or seven of them, completing a series of tasks to reach an ultimate goal, like saving something or defeating an enemy. “

“Ancient Greek mega celeb Hercules had many famous missions. Prophecies mostly give us hints about the mission’s locations and the team we should form. Our campers have to be trained by experienced campers like us for years to go on their first one since they are pretty dangerous,” he said, accentuating pretty. “but our golden boy right here apparently has an express ticket.” The nickname made Jungkook’s face heat up.

Namjoon stood up from where he was sitting next to Jungkook and fixed the wrinkles on his pants. “How dangerous are we talking about?” he asked, still sounding unusual with his lisp due to the fangs, walking to the kitchen. He leaned over, towering Yoongi who was still struggling to grab the mugs. He smiled at Yoongi and continued his worried words while handing them to the shorter guy one by one. “Can Jungkook or me even handle something like that without training? Damn, we don’t even know whose kids we are yet…” 

“You two will probably get claimed by your parent tomorrow or the day after,” Hoseok said scratching his chin in thoughts. “About the mission, you technically can’t handle it but if the oracle says you can, you kinda have to.”

“Oh, my gods!” Yoongi stopped at his trail to the table with two plates of cookies in his hands. “How could I forget! This has to have something to do with the master bolt being stolen!”

“The what?” Jungkook said in union with Namjoon, they put hot chocolate in front of everyone and sat down with Yoongi. 

Hoseok took a sip from his piping hot drink and answered the confused two, “The master bolt of Zeus, you know the big guy, king of the Gods. It’s his shiny weapon of choice. Kind of too much of a show-off if you ask me, but it definitely worked fine to take Kronos down.” He shrugged. “My dad dropped by this morning and told me that Olympus was in absolute mayhem. Zeus is not known for his serenity in situations like this.” Jungkook thought it was funny that Hoseok’s dad was a Greek god, but was still coming home complaining about his work and boss.

“Well it’s getting a little embarrassing at this point honestly” Jimin mumbled pushing his hair back “it’s the second time the lightning bolt is stolen just in this century, you would think he is renting it to exchange students or something...” 

“I’m pretty sure the mission coming up will be related to this, so till we figure the prophecy’s details out and come up with a plan,” Yoongi pointed his finger at Jungkook and Namjoon, who were stuffing their faces with the surprisingly fresh cookies, “you two are going to focus on training like crazy and figuring out your powers as soon as possible. The more you are exposed to magic the quicker your parent notices you.” Jungkook got the shivers suddenly remembering the woman’s voice he heard when he passed out. He actually wanted to talk about that whole experience but something was pulling him back from opening the conversation yet. 

Everyone munched on the snacks quietly while Hoseok wrote the prophecy on a piece of a post-it note and hung it on the fridge. Jungkook couldn’t even remember a word of what Hoseok said during his trance because he was busy being absolutely terrified. Namjoon had a journal in front of him which he already scribbled different annotations around the lines of the prophecy. 

“Hm this isn’t so bad,” Namjoon said tapping his pen on the paper, “aren’t these things supposed to be cryptic and impossible to unpack?”. All four pairs of eyes stared at his face blankly for a moment. 

Jimin was the one to break the silence, he leaned back and looked at Jungkook, “A hot one and a smart one all in one night? Camp Imbros is about to get much more tolerable.” Jungkook rubbed his nape and diverted his gaze with a hurry to hide his blush. It was like a tiny version of himself was running in his mind screaming “HOT! HOT! HOT!”

“Care to explain to us peasants too, Namjoon?” Hoseok asked with a face that still was looking like what Namjoon just said was unbelievable. 

“Well of course these are just theories but,” Namjoon smiled shyly, popping his dimples and showing his ridiculous fake fangs that he probably forgot to take off. “There are several phrases that, I think, obviously points out that the location that we are looking for is the city of Paris.” He pushed the journal on the table so everyone could see the short prophecy.

“See here it says, ‘Bring the lights home, where they belong’, Paris is also called the city of lights, and” he underlined another phrase below, “here ‘the secret heart’, I think refers to Sacre Coeur, which is a direct translation to the sacred heart. It isn’t Greek architecture but it is a Roman Basilica, so I guess it still counts.” He moved his pen back to the first line pursing his lips, “the ‘stepping down the souls of the unjust’ part could be linked to the underground catacombs there, but I have a hunch that it isn’t that…” 

With Namjoon’s words getting faint and turning into mumbles, suddenly the room filled with a neon red color. Jungkook turned around to see the source of the light, coming from right at the top of Namjoon’s silver hair. A real-life sized owl that looked like it is made out of led strips, was flapping its wings above Namjoon. Yoongi sucked a breath in when he saw the bird and whispered, “Yeah that explains the nerd-hotness.”

In a blink, right beside where Namjoon was sitting, materialized an Asian woman in an Ancient Greek armor and chiton with a shield laying on her knees with a truly gruesome monster face on it. Her face was beautiful but looked very stern, just like a teacher that you know cares about you a lot but just really, really deep down. 

“Very well my son, indeed, they are not the catacombs.” Namjoon was looking really shocked but also quite contained, Jungkook thought they both were getting numb to all this weird stuff. A flash of light passed through his friend’s pupils and he bowed with his head. “Lady Athena.” 

The rest of the room was shaken out of their shock and bowed down also. The woman smiled and her ghost-like hand caressed Namjoon’s stiff fingers, still holding his pen on the tabletop. “Your faith will tell you the time when you ought to bow down. Stay humble, son. Oh and” she lifted his hand to Namjoon’s dimpled cheek, “Please don’t forget to remove your costume, you look hideous with those fangs!” Her last words echoed in the room even after she vanished as quickly as she came, leaving Namjoon red and shocked.

Jungkook jumped with a booming sound coming from the confetti exploding at the door, Seokjin was removing his shoes with one hand and with the other he was shooting celebration décor out of his slender fingers. “Congratulations Joonie, the son of Athena!”

Jungkook threw his arm around Namjoon's wide shoulders, while Seokjin threw his whole body on them turning the three into an emotional cluster. “I’m so happy for you Namjoonie Hyung!” said Jungkook, voice muffled by his friend’s clothes, “always knew you were the smart one!” Namjoon chuckled eyeing the younger one, he added to Jungkook’s words “… and the hot one.”

“Seokjin Hyung, why didn’t you to share your friends with us sooner,” complained Jimin collecting the dishes off of the table, “I was worried I would have to listen to you three lose your minds over what a word means for weeks and scream at walls again.”

Yoongi leaned over the table to face Seokjin with his hands directing the older, “Yeah traitor, Namjoon just figured the whole prophecy out in one go. He nerded out so hard, he summoned the goddess of Nerdness.” Yoongi quickly went over the things Namjoon found out about the prophecy and their destination, Paris. Seokjin ruffled Namjoon’s hair and smiled proudly, he took the journal from the table and quickly checked out the lines himself. 

He nodded his eyes still on the paper, “You guys might be right about this being linked to the master bolt’s disappearance. Also,” his gaze moved to Jimin who was leaned over the table, eyes drooping down with sleep, “this line here says ‘The light shall fall upon the owl and the swan’ The owl is Athena’s and the swan is Aphrodite’ symbols. Both Namjoon and Jimin are confirmed for the mission.” Jungkook raised his brows and side-eyed Jimin smirking at him.

“Yeah sure, I’m in,” he said, shrugging. “It’s not like you could go on a mission in the city of love without the son of Aphrodite.” 

Seokjin stood up from where he was leaning over Jungkook’s shoulder and dusted his pants, “Okay then campers, it’s time to go to bed now. We should discuss the details of the mission with the girls tomorrow.” Jungkook’s knees were hurting just as much as his head did because of all the new information. Everyone else followed him and left the table. 

Jungkook stopped on his track to the door which was on the opposite side to the one that they had entered from. “Oh fuck I’m officially the worst cat dad!” he slapped his own forehead, all of his friends turned around, Namjoon was sharing the same horrified expression. “We left Mittens home alone.”

“Ah, about that,” Seokjin said stepping out of the building into a much larger courtyard than the one Jungkook woke up in. The older brought his fingers to his lips and blew a loud whistle that echoed in the silent night. A winged creature, that at first Jungkook though to be another Pegasus like Honey, flew over the Korean style houses and landed next to Seokjin. It was even more enormous up close and had the head of a falcon and the body of a lion. The creature, unlikely of its size, snuggled his head to Seokjin’s wide shoulders and behind Jungkook’s older friend, walked their grey house cat, Mittens.

“You remember when I told you two I found Mittens at the sidewalk,” said Seokjin picking up the cat, “Well actually, I was kind of worried about your security since you are friends with the counselor of a major demigod camp and had the vision too, so I brought my griffon as a pet to your house, you know, just in case.”

Jungkook stretched his hand to pet his pet of three years, feeling estranged of her all of a sudden. Their housecat that slept twenty hours a day, and ate only the most expensive of cat food; was actually a 7 feet tall, flying mythical creature. “That’s weird but wholesome at the same time.” He mumbled and scratched the back of Mittens’ the griffon's ear.

“Okay, here in the camp every god and goddess have their own cabins,” Seokjin said letting Mittens down. “Hobi can you show Namjoon the cabin of Athena, it’s already next to Apollo’s.” Hoseok threw his arm around Namjoon, struggling a little due to the height difference but Namjoon smiled and slouched. They waved at everyone else and slowly strolled down one of the openings of the courtyard towards the other parts of the traditional village. 

“Unknown demigods stay in the cabin of Aphrodite till they are claimed since Jimin is an only child.” Seokjin said pointing at Jungkook’s and Jimin’s direction. “So, you two go together, and Jimin,” he stopped for a second to raise his brow to his pink-haired friend “don’t scare the kid.” 

Jimin covered his mouth comically in shock, “I would never!” then he drew his feline like eyes to Jungkook, checking him out, making the boy’s blood attack his cheeks. “As long as you don’t want me to, I don’t bite.” Seokjin and Yoongi gave the two a look of disgust mixed with pity, which made Jungkook sure that at that point, he was the color of a tomato.

“Okay then let’s go golden boy!” said Jimin, grabbing Jungkook’s wrist with his cold hands. Jungkook turned back to lock eyes with Seokjin. “Good night!” he half screamed. Yoongi waved at him trying to hold his laughter back, and Seokjin looked like he just sacrificed his firstborn to Satan. 

Jungkook followed Jimin into the narrow streets of the traditional Korean village. He passed over the older guy’s almost weightless looking, delicate steps on the uneven floor with his clumsy ones. Everything was very quiet and serene in the cool night air and it made the worries inside Jungkook scream even louder. They were quickly silenced when his chest hit a firm back, instinctively grabbing the shorter one by his shoulders.

“Oh sorry I didn’t realize-“, Jungkook squirmed behind Jimin’s body, however, Jimin wasn’t hearing him. His eyes were staring at a place on the sky, Jungkook looked at where his pupils were locked but saw nothing. Jimin frowned and mumbled, “Sorry I thought, I saw something.” His voice was a bit too shaky for Jungkook’s liking, “But it’s just nothing.” He said with his eyes slightly glossy. Jungkook focused on them for a second too long and saw little lights moving. 

When he looked back on the sky, hundreds of shooting stars were embroidering the black night into a breath-taking scenery. It suddenly got so bright that the little streets were illuminated into a morning like glow. A small hand tugged on Jungkook’s sleeve, “Let’s go golden boy,” Jimin almost whispered with his head down, “we both had a long night.”

And like that, they walked under the rain of shooting stars into another smaller courtyard, it had no other entrances except the one they entered, and the building surrounding it was covered in vines with fuchsia flowers. Jimin walked towards the white door and quickly sang a nursery rhyme that sounded like it was in French. Jungkook wondered what made Jimin so upset about the meteor rain but decided not to dig into it so much. He knew this man for less than five hours and couldn’t demand a whole CV and favorite hobbies list, yet.

After the French nursery rhyme, the door nob turned by itself and the door creaked open letting a warm beam of light leak from it to outside. A smell of fresh flowers mixed with cinnamon and something sweet, which Jimin had on too, hugged their bodies. The entrance continued into a high ceiling room with light blue painted walls and ceiling height windows. Two armchairs were positioned facing each other with a coffee table between them holding a floating pink flame on top of it at the very center of the pretty empty common room.

Jimin sighed like the previously apparent gloom on top of him had been lifted a little bit. “Welcome to the cabin of Aphrodite,” he chimed sliding his sequin jacket off of his shoulders. “We hope your stay here will be a delightful and memorable one.” 

Jungkook mumbled a thanks and nodded at the direction of the pink flames in curiosity, “Is that just for fancy décor?” 

“Oh those?” Jimin scrunched his nose like he had a sour taste between his pink lips. “That’s the sacrifice bonfire that I use to summon Aphrodite, but it’s no good use since mom isn’t the most attentive goddess in the history of holy parenting anyways.”. The flames grew and groaned in fury painting the dimly lit common room in neon pink, yet Jimin looked unfazed rolling his eyes. “Whatever, old lady.”

He pointed at the Jungkook’s side of the corridor, where another door was shot closed. “There are no other newbies except you right now, so you can use the girls’ dorms as your very own place if you please; I sleep in the boys' dorm.”

Jungkook drew his eyes to the other boy’s way, Jimin looked as elegant as he looked when they arrived at the dark alleyway earlier that night; but something Jungkook couldn’t pinpoint was looming over his captivating aura like a grey cloud. Jungkook felt the same way, he felt alone and left behind. He felt insignificant.

“Is it…” Jungkook whispered, his almost inaudible voice made Jimin jump on his feet. Jungkook ripped his eyes from Jimin’s face to his Chelsea boots. “Is it okay weird if I sleep at boys’ dorm too?”

Jimin frowned but a smirk formed on his thick lips. “I promised Seokjin Hyung to not mess with you yet, golden boy…” 

Jungkook felt his blood moving up in his body with the pet name, he shook his hands like he was trying to get away from a fly. “Oh no I mean,” his voice was cracking like he was back in middle school, “I mean, I can’t really fall asleep on my own since I’ve always slept in the orphanage and now, I’m room-mates with Namjoon Hyung…” He coughed, catching Jimin’s questioning eyes on himself. “So yeah…”

Jimin nodded “Yeah?” he tilted his head and looked at the taller guy for a split second, smiling. Jungkook was once again captivated by the two irises gleaming with the colors he didn't even know existed before meeting the son of Aphrodite. “Okay then, Kookie, mi casa es tu casa! Let’s go!”

They quietly walked in the narrow corridor ending in a white door identical to the one at the opposite side of the cabin. The door opened into a room similarly decorated to the common hall, with light blue and creme walls and tall windows wrapping all around. There was a queen-sized bed placed at the very end of the room and two other ones at each side of it. 

“I don’t really keep more beds here since there are no other sons of Aphrodite and we don’t get many newbies this time of the year,” Jimin explained the lack of sleeping space. He threw his jacket on the bed and removed his shoes. “Don’t be a perve but I’mma change into my pajamas golden boy.”

Jungkook just laughed sarcastically and left Jimin’s mark at that. he grew up in an all-boys dormitory of an orphanage all his life and spent his years in boys changing rooms of martial arts tournaments. He was at the age that he hoped he had his raging hormones under control.

His confidence about having his hormones under control was deflated after seeing Jimin sliding his white shirt over his head. Jungkook didn’t want to be a creep so he forced his eyes off of Jimin’s toned back to anywhere they could land on at that moment. 

He recognized dozens of polaroid pictures hanged on top of the headboard. In one, Taehyung was carrying a blue-haired Jimin bridal style in front of a bonfire, in another, they were much younger with Hoseok and Seokjin doing thumbs up with wooden swords in hands and Jungkook’s personal favorite was the one which Jimin had his pink hair tied up in two buns staring at the camera with his hands on his hips. “Cute.” Jungkook let out in a daze.

“That’s what they say, yes.” Jimin came behind him to check out his wall of memories for himself, he was changed into a black oversized shirt and pink shorts. It made Jungkook think of the word cute all over again. Jimin pointed at the bed beside the queen-sized one which he placed some folded clothes.

“Even though I would love to have that romantic comedy half-naked buff man in my cabin next morning with the towel and all,” he said looking dreamily in the distance, “You are off-limits for now, golden boy, so suit up. Your stuff should be here tomorrow, Seokjin Hyung took care of it.” 

“Here goes my plans to flaunter my abs in the cabin of Aphrodite.” Said Jungkook removing his work shirt that felt like was stuck to his skin after all the things they have been through together.

Jimin hopped on the bed and leaned on his hand, gazing at Jungkook changing hurriedly. He didn’t really have the shame Jungkook previously possessed. “Don’t make me regret my decisions, Jeon.” and like that Jungkook snuggled into the bed with his strange pajamas, under the strange duvet, with a complete stranger laying a few feet away from him. However, falling asleep he realized, for the first time in his twenty-year life, it was the first night he fell asleep feeling at home.


	3. Getting Your Crush on His Knees in 10 easy steps

Jungkook woke up to the sound of someone banging the door violently. He peeked between his eyelids only to be welcomed by an unnaturally clean and neat room, which had zero possibility to be his own one in the apartment. Right when he started to panic, everything that happened the previous night flooded back into his mind.

The hellhound. Magic. The camp. Greek gods and their kids. Jimin.

“I will enter now!” a high-pitched female voice announced from the other side of the wall “You better be fully clothed!”.

The door creaked open by a girl with short hair in a red shirt with the flower which Jungkook though to be the camp logo embroidered on it. She was trying to keep her balance on wobbly feet, walking with her hands in front of her eyes.

Jungkook rubbed his eyes to adjust to the brightness of the morning and spoke up with his still gritty voice, “It’s fine I’m not naked and I’m awake…” the girl peeked through her long fingers and raised her brows.

“Good morning and welcome!” she said smiling, flashing her bunny-like front teeth just like Jungkook’s. Seokjin and Namjoon Hyung would call him a bunny but they should have seen this girl. “I’m Nayeon, daughter of Zeus and the vice counselor of the camp. Seokjin sent me to wake you up,” she continued, showing the clock on the screen of her phone, “you got the mission of your life time and it’s nearly noon, everyone thinks you had a heart attack in your sleep.”

Right, the mission, Jungkook thought. His mind was coping with all that happened the previous night as a fever dream. His entire body was aching and pulsing with sores, yet he nodded and smiled to the girl, “Thanks, I’ll be out in a minute!” he pushed his body off of the bed, his muscles were feeling like hard cement. He scrunched his nose in pain, “I’m not even sure what I am supposed to do but-“

Nayeon looked back at the younger boy, “Seokjin said that they will get you the weapon of your choice and start your training as soon as possible.” She said closing the door behind her, “You should master your weapon and get trained by a counselor or at least by an experienced camper before you lead the mission.”

Jungkook imagined himself with a giant flaming bow and arrow and then with a whip slaying monsters; it just didn’t sound realistic to him. He was no hero, he lacked the charisma to move people; he could maybe be the cute sidekick, not the protagonist. He couldn’t even take the responsibility of their college’s photography club, let alone leading a mythical mission to save a God’s mighty weapon. He put on the red camp hoodie that’s placed at the end of his bed, next to the blue bunny hat, and hurriedly left the room. He needed as much training as he could get at that point.

Beams of light attacked his eyes once again when he left the cabin of Aphrodite. Even though it was the fall, the mountains were sunny with a slight breeze. From one of the exits that opened into the courtyard of the Cabin of Aphrodite, Seokjin and a blonde girl beside her were strolling towards where Jungkook was standing as clueless as one could be.

“Good morning Jungkookie!” Seokjin exclaimed with a hand wave, on his other hand he was holding out what looked like a breakfast sandwich for Jungkook. “Ready to get going with your training yet?” he said looking at the girl walking beside him, giving Jungkook a motherly smile. “This is Jeongyeon, daughter of Ares, she is Camp Imbros’ trainer and an impeccable warrior.” 

The girl was around Jungkook’s age and was wearing a black camo at the end of October, which was enough to intimidate Jungkook. She had a pretty and gentle face in contrast with her athletic body. Her arms were covered with different healed scars and some random tattoos. She stretched her hand out and pulled Jungkook into half a hug.

“Welcome kiddo!” she said with a low voice, the nickname reminded Jungkook of Namjoon’s way of calling him. “Let’s go get you a cool blade,” she said smiling to Jungkook wider, then she turned to face Seokjin, “He looks like a blade guy to me.” 

And like that the three strolled between the narrow streets of the old village, orange leaves accessorizing the tree branches like glass ornaments. They walked into a relatively larger courtyard that was dug deeper that the rest of the ground, inside, there were booth-like sections separated with nets, filled with numerous campers.

Jeongyeon hopped down, ignoring the stairs, “This is our training court,” she pointed at the giant sandpit, “where everyone learns and practices their skills.”

Jungkook’s eyes caught a head of pink hair, bouncing with every elegant move. Jimin had his double katanas in both hands fighting with a girl with bright orange hair. The girl punched his ribs and made the guy stumble to his left a little. To save his fall Jimin pushed the ground with his heel and did the most effortless flying kick Jungkook had ever seen, making the ginger girl hit the sand floor with a brutal thump.

Jimin’s katanas left his hands and landed on the ground at the two sides of his opponent’s neck. The girl grunted and Jimin hummed in satisfaction. Jungkook’s eyebrows rose by themselves. “Why do you guys train this hard if most of you have quite powerful magic already?”

“Well, thankfully most of the enemies we face are eventually defeated by our powers, it’s how nature balances things out, I guess. Camp Imbros has some of the most powerful demigods of the past ten years since the camp system got globalized. We take great pride in the success of our missions. But still,” Seokjin rubbed his nape, “we are not gods, a god can scorch you just by looking at them in their actual form. We can’t have our powers condensed into pure energy and turn whoever looks at us into ash. For demigods, our magic has to be contained in mortal bodies, so we train the shell to keep it in its best state possible. Sana there,” He gestured at the redhead girl training with Jimin standing back up after being defeated, “came all the way from Japan to here to be able to train with us to perfect her powers and weaponize them in maximum force. Plus,” his eyes were stuck to the pink and fluffy haired boy still jumping around, “some demigods prefer combat overusing their powers most of the time.”

Jeongyeon nodded in approval and rose her arms to show the scars that resemble burn marks. “Magic is a big burden for our bodies, it takes as much as it gives. Using your powers wears you out and shuts you down for a while after long periods of exposure and it may not even be effective sometimes. Jimin’s charmspeak doesn’t work over divine powers for example, he can’t trick gods. But if your swordsmanship is good enough, you can win over anyone, even a god.”

“I bet the fifty cents of fortune in my pocket that he can take down Sana,” Jimin yelled strolling towards them, the ginger girl huffing and shaking her head, walking behind him. Her orange bangs were stuck to her forehead with sweat. She locked eyes with Jungkook and waved at him, then turned back to Jihyo. “I can’t believe you are forcing me to hit a child.” 

Jungkook frowned, already being pulled into one of the fighting booths by Seokjin. “I am twenty and have a black belt in taekwondo,” Sana placed herself in front of him with a powerful stance; the girl cracked her fingers and her palms blasted with orange sparkles. “Bring it on, then!”

Jungkook froze in his place and the breakfast sandwich he just had in his stomach got churned. He stared with pleading eyes at Seokjin standing at the other side of the net, alongside Jimin and Jeongyeon. He winked at the younger and in a split second Jungkook’s hand got heavy. There, Jungkook was standing, staring at his fingers grasping the body of a silver spear while the ginger girl running towards him, her hands aflame.

Thankfully his years of martial arts training got his limbs hard-wired. He flipped the tall weapon in his hands with unexpected agility, hitting Sana’s ribs where he already saw Jimin bruising previously. The girl’s torso folded in half but still, she managed to send columns of fire towards Jungkook’s feet. He jumped up just in time to save his toes to be popcorn. He screamed towards his friends between his teeth, “Kinda about to be murdered up here!”

Jeongyeon leaned on the net and checked the watch on her wrist, “Focus on your inner power Jungkook, we really need to dig out what you can do. Sana won’t really hurt you,” she yelled while Sana screamed and shoot more fire next to his waist, “At least she won’t kill you…”

“What a relief…” Jungkook mumbled in exhaustion. He still wasn’t very confident with the tall spear in his hands; so, when Sana unexpectedly ditched the flames and kicked his shin, he dropped it on the sand floor along with himself. He heard Seokjin commenting, “This isn’t working the way I want it to…”

Jungkook pushed the ground under his palms to stand back up, grunting in pain, “Give me some kind of sword, I do kendo too!” and like that; Seokjin flicked his wrist and between Jungkook’s fingers a lead sword, light and elegant unlike its looks, formed out of thin air. It felt way more familiar than the spear. While he was enjoying the chilly sensation of the metal glued to his skin, his opponent ran towards him and sent her flames to burn the ground beneath Jungkook’s feet again.

Reminiscing Jeongyeon’s advice, he looked for a grain of power inside him in utter panic. All he could find was strange childhood trauma, the anxiety of some unpaid bills, and his college tuition. He sighed and once again focused outside, rather than himself. Some other campers in the training pits were leaned on the nets watching the two demigods fighting too. Sana, following her offense, was standing away from him to catch her breath for a moment with her eyes on the sky. Jungkook was shocked at how he somehow managed to tire her to that point. 

Jimin called from the outside of the pit, lifting the net to enter, “Time to switch players!” Sana cracked her neck and punched Jungkook’s shoulder before leaving the training area. “Good luck taking that one down,” she mumbled still out of breath, “he is way worse than me and my flames” 

Jimin placed himself in front of the younger guy, he was in a red camper shirt and sweatpants accessorized perfectly with his never-ending confidence. He pushed his fairy floss bangs back and winked at Jungkook. It made him think that looking at Jimin uninterrupted could easily make more damage than being burned alive by magical flames. His face was way too bright compared to the gloom of the thunder clouds floating on top of the whole camp. Jungkook felt enchanted.

“Let’s see you taking care of me, golden boy!” Jimin chimed and threw his rings up in the air, only to receive his katanas back in his delicate hands. Jungkook took another look at his now changed rival and threw a smirk on Jimin’s way. “Or should I take care of you?” the older man asked raising his brows in a suggestive tone. Millions of cells in his body screamed at Jungkook to let him devote his whole being to this angel walking on earth. Yet, Jungkook knew very well that this was all magic and manipulation seeping in between those plush lips to get to him. 

He once again breathed the cold air in and grasped the lead in his hand firmer; and with a ground-shaking cry, he let it all out.

Jungkook’s whole body trembled with electricity, a feeling he remembers so dearly along with the familiar female voice. His limbs were pulsing with statistic and the sword at the tip of his arm was like an extended part of him, gleaming with an unnatural silver tint. He let out a shocked gasp when realized he was floating a few feet above the ground level. The air running down his throat was chilly and humid, he mumbled with his voice lower than the usual, “That’s more like it…”

Jimin did an aerial spin and with a push on the ground from his blade, piqued towards where Jungkook was flying in an unexplainable way. The younger landed back on the floor with his eyes closed and spun his lead weapon for it to shoot spinning towards where Jimin’s weightless steps were passing. It pierced through the ground right in front of Jimin’s feet, sending waves of electricity in all directions like a spider web. Just before the electric blue light reached where his opponent was standing, Jungkook caught his kaleidoscope irises glimmering with satisfaction and grain of wit. Starting with Jimin’s knees hitting the floor first, everybody in the periphery was sunk down with the induction force. 

When he opened his eyes back, everyone was on the ground and the tip of his sword was an inch away from Jimin’s bobbing Adam’s apple. 

Jungkook was feeling sparks in the roots of his hair looking at Jimin’s still shocked eyes, “Are you okay there?” he asked with a smile he couldn’t avoid forming on his lips. He was completely deaf to the whispers coming all around them, hypnotized with the older one’s heaving chest. He drew his sword back and stretched his hand to get Jimin off of his knees in front of him, Jimin snapped out of the daze he was in and smiled at him, “Yeah let’s get up before I start enjoying it down here...” he mumbled, making Jungkook’s ears heat up.

Just as Jimin rose to meet Jungkook’s eyes, a beam of light gleaming with all the colors of the spectrum blinded everyone around. A middle-aged female silhouette stepped out from the column of light with a colorful male peacock wandering around her feet. She was gazing around as if she was looking for a specific person, ignoring the curious and kind of scared eyes plastered on her elegant face. Her eyes landed on Jungkook and her motherly smile spread on her thick lips.

“Hello Jungkook, my light,” she almost whispered in that voice so familiar to Jungkook. She tilted her head and rose her voice so that the whole camp could hear what she got to say, “I, Hera, the goddess of marriage and birth, am here to give blessings to Jeon Jungkook for his mission from me and my husband, the king of Olympus, Zeus,” he turned back to face Jungkook, “your father.”

Jimin’s smaller hand that Jungkook tried so hard to ignore, tightened around his wrist in excitement. “He cannot be here to approve of your mission himself, due to the mayhem that has been burdening Olympus since the master bolt disappeared.” Hera continued with her melodic, almost wind like voice, “You and your team shall have hardships and trials of your own, but you, Jungkook, must shine upon them and take on great responsibility. That is the only way to calm the king of the Gods down.” She reached for Jungkook’s cheek and wiped away a smudge of dirt from fighting previously. “You, my light, shall grow to find your true self. Don’t be afraid.” 

In a blink of an eye, the goddess, the halo around her, and the peacock vanished; leaving the faint warmth of her touch on Jungkook’s face behind. Jungkook’s head was spinning with information overload while all of his friends flooded into the training pit. He turned around to catch Jimin’s eyes to calm his nausea down and to ground himself. The older guy wiped another streak of dirt away from Jungkook’s chin and whispered “Congratulations golden boy.” to Jungkook, giving him a few seconds more to study every detail of the son of Aphrodite’s annoyingly flawless doll face. 

Jungkook’s attention stuck on the beauty in front of him dissolved away like fog when Seokjin hugged his shoulders and screamed right next to his ear, “Oh my Gods Kookie!” Jungkook’s body was shaking with everyone’s hits, slaps, and punches of approval. “Jungkook son of Zeus, blessed by Hera? Sounds good to me.” Seokjin hummed, his voice had pieces of surprise in it.

Jeongyeon reached up to ruffle Jungkook’s hair, “You are really a weird kid, huh?” she said frowning her brows together, “Hera absolutely despises children of Zeus, but she is particularly fond of you. The last hero she liked, Iason, became one of the most successful ones of Ancient Greek history.”

“That’s right,” Yoongi’s voice came behind Seokjin’s shoulders. The shorter son of Hades appeared out of where he was standing and patted Jungkook’s head and congratulated him. “Despite her being the goddess of motherly love, she isn’t very compassionate. Most of the chaos in Greek mythology is created by her plans and games, actually,” he explained with his brows drawn together, pouting. “You should be careful about trusting her Kook.”

Jungkook nodded and looked at the sword in his hand once again, it felt almost weightless; just like an extension to his bruised arm. It made him feel like by each second passing, more of his inner self was being slowly unlocked; a power he never got to explore was detangling by itself. “Don’t worry, something in me is telling me that I know exactly how everything will fall into place real soon.”

Seokjin was zoned out, his eyes stuck to Jungkook’s face covered in dust and some minor scratches and burns. “I hope so Kookie, otherwise, it won’t be all rainbows and unicorns for any of us.” The younger boy was being pressured out of his mind not only by the responsibility of his team but the faith of the whole world. Yet somehow, he wasn’t feeling out of place as he did that morning when he woke up. Something in him completely shifted when that current moved beneath his skin and exploded while fighting with Jimin in the pit. After all of his life being directed by elements out of his control, for the first time, Jungkook knew he was exactly where he was supposed to be. 

Everyone had this strange feeling of despair looming over them, the curious eyes of the camp slowly left the pit and only Jungkook’s friends were left behind to stare at their own feet, deep in thought. Everything that was supposed to happen before the mission would start, had been technically accomplished. Creepy prophecy reveal? Check. Namjoon Hyung confirmed to be the ultimate nerd? Check. Blasting the camp, and his crush, with shiny electricity magic? Check. Approved by his evil goddess stepmother? Check. They were all ready to go, way sooner than they planned.

Jimin linked arms with Jungkook, who lost the hero-like posture he had on just a minute ago facing Hera. “I’m taking Jungkook to move his stuff to the Cabin of Zeus,” he said pulling the younger with him, he raised his voice without looking back, “Meeting in the palace in an hour to form the team and figure out the mission since we are already in November!”

“Oh! Before you go,” Seokjin held Jungkook’s wrist, the younger boy’s lead sword started shrinking between his fingers. When Jungkook opened his fist, a dangly earring with a tiny sword charm was sitting on his palm. “This is your demigod birthday present Kookie!”

Jungkook put on the earring on his empty lobe, “Thanks Hyung,” he smiled at his friend of twenty years and uttered a sentence he would never imagine even thinking about, “I’ll kill mean monsters with it, thinking about you!”

Jungkook and Jimin turned around and left the courtyard. Jungkook realized he was truly drained to the last drop of his energy. Having Jimin supporting some of his weight with his smaller body was something to be thankful for. They were quietly walking in between the brick walls of the village houses. Jungkook as one does, took a glance at the man hooked on his arm; that was humming an unfamiliar tune, carelessly. 

Jimin was the type of boy Jungkook wouldn’t even try for in his ordinary life. He would probably see him in their campus Starbucks, with his gym staff hoodie on and drop his hot chocolate at the stunning view, embarrassing himself. College hottie Jimin wouldn’t even look his way, he would be gorgeous and successful by himself. However, the reality was Jimin being a demigod with the power of poisoning people with his magical beauty. With a wink or a smile, this angel-faced man could push anyone into being infatuated with him to do whatever he desires. 

Jungkook for that time being decided to ignore that, though. He just wanted to cherish the moment of him strolling under naked branches, with a man way out of league spending time with him in his own will. Jimin was not only beautiful but so witty, having a conversation with him was like watching a tennis game. Jungkook enjoyed the man’s existence like a flashy colored cocktail, making him dizzy with its sweet and sour taste.

“You know that I can sense your feelings, right?”

Jungkook froze in his place in such a sudden move that Jimin walking beside him got pulled back. “Pardon!”

Jimin hummed in approval and tightened their linked arms, resuming their walk. “It’s how charmspeak works, the whole thing is based on the desires of the person you want to manipulate. If they don’t have even a piece of will to obey me, I can’t force them into it. I can’t put thoughts into people’s minds, I can only amplify the already existing ones.” He explained with a voice a little too calm to talk about mind reading. “If someone is completely head over heels for me, it’s way easier;” he stared at Jungkook’s face dripping with droplets of pure anxiety, batting his eyelashes at him innocently, “I usually can feel everything that goes in their minds in detail. But if they aren’t interested, all I can see is primal things like romantic desires and sexual fantasies.”

Jungkook’s train of thoughts about the boy beside him for the past two days played in front of his eyes like a tragedy and he was left in utter horror. Jimin turned to face him, his bangs were draping like tulle curtains in front of his feline eyes, “I can’t really figure out the details to yours, so I thought you didn’t really enjoy my company…” he said scrunching his nose at the thought. ‘Cute!’ Jungkook commented silently maybe the fiftieth time in the past ten minutes. He instinctively corrected the negative thoughts Jimin had, “That’s not true! I enjoy you. And your company of course.”

Jimin pressed his lips together like he was trying to suppress his giggles. “That’s what’s really strange, you see,” he sighed, “I can sense myself in your mind all the time golden boy, yet still I can’t read you...” Jungkook’s brows rose up like they were trying to escape from his forehead. A tingly feeling of being special filled his chest and the corners of his lips curled up.

“Maybe the last heart bender Jimin kinda likes me too, that’s why!” Jungkook exclaimed with a shit-eating grin plastered on his lips. Jimin snatched his pupils away from Jungkook’s doe eyes and locked them in somewhere far away. He made no comment and was painfully silent for the rest of the path leading to the cabin of Aphrodite. Jungkook’s pride-filled chest was now replaced with a pang of unknown guilt. 

Jimin once again mumbled the French nursery rhyme in front of the door to the cabin with his honey voice a little too silent that day, and the lock clicked. He let the younger boy step in first but Jungkook was glued to his place by their unexpected guest.

On one of the armchairs next to the pink bonfire, was sitting the most beautiful woman Jungkook had ever seen in his life. She reminded him of Hollywood actors; elegant and glamourous. She had rich brown colored shoulder-length curly hair and dark olive skin that contrast beautifully with her white dress shirt and indigo jeans. She didn’t really have any flashy thing about her appearance. Yet, when her sea-green eyes glided between the two boys standing on the doorway and a playful smile spread on her crimson red lips, Jungkook felt literally captivated. 

Beside the paralyzed younger boy, Jimin sighed in exhaustion, “Is today ‘Bring your Olympian Parent to School’ day and I missed it?”

The woman rose her hand and waved at Jimin that’s walking towards her like he is regretting the decision to come to the cabin in the first place, “I missed you too, son.” Jungkook tilted his head and blinked a couple of times to adjust to the new information. Well… it did make sense that this woman was Aphrodite. In fact, if anyone was Aphrodite, it was this unexpected guest of theirs. Looking at her, Jungkook could see some resemblance with her son; Jimin got his feline-like eyes and always pouty lips from his mother.

“What a charming friend you have here, Jimin,” It took a couple of seconds for Jungkook to understand to Aphrodite was referring to him. The goddess carelessly looked at Jungkook’s way; her presence was also like Jimin’s captivating aura but amplified a thousand times. It was even a bit painful to try to pull your eyes away from her. “Can you give me and my son a second alone, love.”

Jungkook’s feet started moving towards the boys’ dorm before he could get a weak “Okay.” Out. He got into the room that was brightly lit despite the thunder clouds outside. As Jimin said the previous night, most of his belongings, including his Star Wars PJs and bed covers with a spaghetti sauce stain on it that won over the laundry skills of the demigod, were neatly placed on and around his bed with some carton boxes. He walked around them to start packing but a polaroid he didn’t realize before, lying next to Jimin’s pillow caught his eyes. Jungkook gently picked it up.

It was a picture of a girl next to a couple of years younger Jimin. They both had thick lips and dark brown hair but the girl had purple highlights at the ends of her long locks. They were in front of a lake and she was leaning her head on Jimin’s shoulder. Jungkook had seen Jimin’s doll face looking fierce, confident, and beautiful maybe a thousand times for the past day, yet he never could imagine the son of Aphrodite looking at someone like that as if he was scared that she would crumble under his hands. Jungkook removed his thumb over the bar below the picture to read the black words written in italic cursive, “-The Parks-“

Jungkook frowned at the name but his head sprung up with the loud noises, “I’m begging!” Jimin was heard yelling angrily from the other side of the wall, “Please leave me alone, what more do you want from me?” his voice was gritty and desperate, it made Jungkook’s heart clench in his chest. “Olympus already took everything I had.”

The younger fumbled with the picture behind him back to where it used to sit when he heard the wooden door creak open. Jimin entered, pressing his little fists on his eyes, he was looking drained off of all of his patience and energy. Jungkook thought he was crying so he took two huge steps and stopped right in front of the older boy. 

“Are you okay?” Jungkook’s hands reached out to Jimin’s waist, but he drew them back in hesitance. His gestures and movements towards the older boy were all coming from a place of his mind that he had no control over and it scared him. Jimin uncovered his face, he had a tired expression plastered all over his gorgeous features. “What did she have to say?”

“Just mom’s always welcomed paranoia and meaningless advice,” he said with a weak voice and passed beside Jungkook to start putting, more like throwing angrily, his belongings into one of the cardboard boxes. “She completely ignores me for months and then materializes in my living room to chat about boys! I can’t stand this woman!” 

What boys? Jungkook thought to himself. Jimin was projecting how upset he had got due to his mom towards Jungkook’s anime figurines so the younger quickly took the matters into his own hands. He really wanted to ask about the girl in the picture but felt something stopping him from starting a conversation about a sensitive topic. So, they filled the cardboard boxes with Jungkook’s stuff, while Jimin mumbled some angry French words to himself.

An hour later the two nocked on the extravagant doors of the cabin of Zeus. Unlike the pretty flowers around Jimin’s cabin, this one was another Korean village house but with lightning bolt and numerous fight scenes painted on its ivory walls. The short haired girl that woke Jungkook up that morning, Nayeon, opened the door with a controller in her hands and cat ear led gamer headphones.

“Oh! Hi guys! Welcome home Jungkook!” she almost yelled, and smiled widely flashing her bunny teeth, “Knew you were too cool to be anything but a kid of Zeus!” 

Jungkook smiled back at the girl, he was happy her bigger sister and he shared common interests, “Glad to be here!”

Jimin’s kaleidoscope eyes moved between the siblings, “Wow,” he sighed and pointed at Nayeon’s and Jungkook’s front teeth peeking out. “The resemblance is uncanny.” He lowered the box in his hands inside the cabin and pulled his friends out all over again. “Jungkook can settle down later, we should catch the mission meeting, or else you two will be rabbit stew.”

The main house of Camp Imbros was the palace at the heart of the Korean village. Jungkook had seen bigger and more glamourous dynasty palaces in Seoul during school trips, but this one made him feel like he was time traveling. He was oddly sensing the nostalgia of a period he never got to experience. It had a huge courtyard and beautiful art pieces all over its walls when you enter in and wander around the corridors. 

The three walked into a salon probably used as the throne room before, surrounded by windows from the floor to the ceiling. The platform that once had been used to elevate the throne had a silver hula hoop-like circle on it with fire torches burning at its two sides. A long rectangle floor table was placed in the middle of the room with cushions set all around it. Hoseok was sitting at the very end and next to him was Yoongi and Namjoon, still talking over Namjoon’s holy journal. Right across the table Jeongyeon and a blonde girl with lilac skin sitting munching on the snacks reserved for the counselors.

Hoseok realized them arriving and beamed with his contagious smile, “Oh you guys are finally here! Have a seat and let’s begin then.” Jungkook sat down next to Namjoon and Nayeon and Jimin sat next to the lilac skinned girl. Hoseok took the gavel on the table and knocked twice on the wooden table, “There was an emergency in Busan so Taehyung and Seokjin with a team of children of Poseidon had to fly over there. I will be the chair of this meeting.”

“Is it the Kraken again?” Jeongyeon asked with cookie crumbs on the corner of her mouth.

Hoseok sighed and leaned on his fist, “This is confidential information Jeongie, but yes. Kraken is not our current topic of the meeting, though. Our information agency,” He flipped the gavel in his hands and pointed at Namjoon and Yoongi, “assured us that the destination of the next mission to find the Master Bolt is Paris. We now need to form the team. Also,” the tip of the gavel moved towards the lilac girl, “Mina checked in with the European wind fairies but couldn’t figure out the ideal time to start the mission.”

“Because of Zeus’ anger and confusion recently the wind gods aren’t doing well either,” Mina disappointedly mumbled while tucking her hair behind her pointy ears, “I can’t communicate with any of my relatives too.” Nayeon rubbed the fairy’s back to comfort her.

Jimin cleared his throat so everyone’s attention shifted to him, “Today is the first day of November, so it’s Pompaia season in which ancient Greek had festivals that they made processions to Zeus,” he explained and locked eyes with Jungkook, making him forget about wherever they were as usual. “his children will be in their strongest forms this month. We should leave as soon as possible.”

Namjoon from the other side of Jungkook closed off his journal. “I agree with the timing, and about the team, it’s obviously Kookie’s mission,” he said, gesturing at the younger, “Me and Jimin’s names are mentioned in the prophecy so we go too. For the magic I thought Seokjin Hyung would tag along but he had to deal with the Kraken so,” he turned his whole torso to face the much smaller frame next to him, “I thought Yoongi Hyung would come with us.”

Yoongi’s eyebrow shoot up and his ears turned pink, “Me?” he asked with surprise ringing in his voice. Jungkook wondered what was going on between these two all of a sudden. 

“Yeah Hyung!” Jimin’s eyes were stuck in between Namjoon and Yoongi, they had a glint in them different than the usual kaleidoscope colors, “you must come.”

Namjoon nodded without looking away from Yoongi, “Exactly,” he then turned to everyone else on the table, “we need another experienced demigod with magical powers anyways, plus the prophecy says we should go down underground and you are the son of Hades.”

Hoseok tapped on the table with his gavel and with a pout on his face, he approved. “Sounds good to me!”

Yoongi’s face got bunched up around his little nose in shock and made the scar over his eye look like a lightning bolt, “How can you be okay with this?” his hands were flying around his raven black hair, “Even number of heroes brings bad luck to the mission!”

“You and your superstitions…” Hoseok groaned, annoyed, “We weren’t able to avoid fighting to the death with meat eater snails or save Tae nearly getting sucked into Tartarus the last times in which we were odd numbers anyways!”

Nayeon hummed and turned to face a frustrated Yoongi, “And It’s not like any of us can go with you right now,” she explained, “Hoseok can’t leave the camp as the prophet. All the male counselors will be gone when you guys leave, we have to stay here to deal with the cabins and continue the training.”

Yoongi parted his lips to let out a defeated sigh, but instead, from the glass windows behind him, came a deafening noise. Before Jungkook could grab the table to ground himself, everything shook with an incredible force. The glass on the windows was glowing with a red hue every time they were pushed to their limits. Jungkook’s eyes finally found the source of all this mess. A giant steel bull was hitting the building with its horns which were as big as Jungkook’s leg.

“How did this thing come all the way to the palace?” Yoongi ran up to the windows and put his hands on the shaking glass, his fingertips started glowing red like the rest of the surface. “The protection on the building is weakening too!” 

Just as the son of Hades pointed it out, the glass where the bull was smashing his head started to crack a little bit. Mina behind Jungkook yelled to make her voice audible, “I’m sensing absolutely nothing from the barriers of the camp they are perfectly intact,” she kicked her heel into the wooden ground and a wave of blue smoke hit the bull and distracted it for a second. But it also made its return just as furiously.

“Then a holy source must have placed it in here…” Jeongyeon commented. 

Jungkook felt it coming before it happened and he reached for his earring just in time. The bull finally smashed the glass into pieces with a shrike and Yoongi flew over the table with the force, knocking it over Nayeon and trapping her legs under. While Jungkook saw Namjoon running back to get Yoongi at the corner of his peripheral view, he gripped the cold metal body of his sword. His feet started moving forward instinctually when he caught the eyes of the bull burning with a bright blue gleam. What came as a surprise was it speaking out with a deep voice in perfect English.

“Hand me the master bolt.” The words boomed in the trashed salon.

Despite the nervous atmosphere, Nayeon scoffed, her voice wheezing due to the weight on top of her, “You are a couple of days early for that…”

Jimin took cautious steps on the shreds of glass and broken wood beside Jungkook. When he spoke up his words were charged with so much power and persuasion that it made Jungkook’s gaze split apart from the bull for a second. “We don’t have the master bolt here, you must leave.”

The bull was as distracted by Jimin as any other creature would be, “I must leave…” it mumbled with its voice going even deeper like it was possessed. Then it shook its giant head in anger and eyes shone even brighter. “Don’t lie demigod! I can sense it, it’s somewhere in this room.” The bull galloped the floor getting ready to attack.

“We don’t have time for this!” Hoseok screamed and locked eyes with Yoongi, “You and Jimin know how to use the well of Hekate,” he said pointing at the silver hula hoop on the platform. “take the team to Paris, we will take care of this.” 

“No!” Jungkook yelled, his voice being swallowed by the noise made by the bull displacing the remnants that are piled up on its way. Mina pushed another wave of smoke and Jeongyeon kicked the ground with an inhumane power that shook up the creature. 

Jimin pulled Jungkook’s sleeve towards the throne platform. Yoongi was across the hoop holding his hands over it, mumbling words in another language with his eyes shut. The fire from the torches beside it sparked up and set the hoop on fire filling the circle inside with a mirror-like reflective liquid. Yoongi opened his eyes and nodded to Jimin.

Jimin removed the ring on his pinkie and it transformed into a small dagger. Making Jungkook gasp, the older boy slit open his palm and let the thick, red liquid drip into the liquid in the well. “I choose to sacrifice my blood to the goddess Hekate and promise the truth and only the truth if she shows us the way.” With Jimin’s words beams of silver shoot up to the high ceiling, forming a cylinder of light. Jungkook could hear the struggling screams and grunts of his friends he met only a day ago, but he still struggled to take the hands of Namjoon and Jimin instead of turning back and helping them.

Jimin tugged at Jungkook’s shaky hand and gave him an assuring smile, but his eyes were filled with doubt too. With the bull yelling “No!” behind them, they stepped into the cylinder; drifting into the unknown second day in a row.


End file.
